


mercy i implore

by divine_chicken



Category: Hades (Video Game 2018)
Genre: Achilles POV, Achilles finds a purpose again: the fic, Character Study, Gen, M/M, Mentor Relationship!! Dad achilles, mild hades spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-22
Updated: 2020-10-22
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:29:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27151811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/divine_chicken/pseuds/divine_chicken
Summary: He had not been there when the prince had been born. All he remembers was Nyx running out of her room with a stillborn in her hands, its little palm peeking out of her embrace, and Persephone's sobs.A Hades!Achilles character study.
Relationships: Achilles & Zagreus (Hades Video Game), Achilles/Patroclus (Hades Video Game), Nyx/Persphone but it's implied, The focus isn't Patrochilles though
Comments: 14
Kudos: 326





	mercy i implore

**Author's Note:**

> Noting that "Philtate", the adjective Nyx uses to refer to Persephone, means " most beloved! Also that "Peleides" means "son of Peleus," aka Achilles.

He had not been there when the prince had been born. All he remembers was Nyx running out of her room with a stillborn in her hands, its little palm peeking out of her embrace, and Persephone's sobs, and Hades's broken face, and how Nyx had whispered " Please, Philtate..." when Persephone decided to run away. 

He does not remember for how long Nyx had remained in Chaos's realm as she’d struggled to save the child, but what he does remember is how Hades had rushed to hug the child when it was brought back to him by an exhausted Nyx.

That was the only time Achilles ever saw Hades cry.

-

"... Do you wish to hold him?" Nyx asks him one day as they're chatting. Though serving the House of Hades is an obligation before anything, Achilles had taken a liking to the goddess. Though not exactly approachable, she seemed to understand him. He served her loyally, and she treated him with kindness in return.  
" M... Me?" He softly murmurs, shooting a glance at the babbling babe. 

" Why, yes. You are part of this House, and thus you have the right to. Besides... Lord Hades is planning on making you his mentor, as I'm sure you already know. I think this would be an agreeable start, wouldn't it, Peleides?"

" ... Yes, my Lady," Achilles slowly nods, gently setting his spear against the wall.

Nyx helps him take the child in his arms, and he is so incredibly small against Achilles's large form. His tiny burning feet are peeking out of his embrace, careful as he is not to burn his clothes.  
"... Hello, prince Zagreus," he murmurs, and the baby looks at him with wide, curious eyes. Before he can react, a tiny hand grabs onto his curls and _tugs,_ , and the baby breaks into laughter at his surprised face.

A ray of light peeks into his heart as the child's laughter echoes through the House's cold hallways.

A hint of a smile graces Nyx's face.

\- 

He slowly grows closer to the little prince, and on more than one occasion he's had mushed ambrosia thrown at him while attempting to feed the child.

He gives the child a look, reprimanding but not overly harsh. The child stares back, his large eyes making Achilles feel oddly vulnerable.

He wipes the mush off his face and fills the spoon up with food once more.

"... Would you like to hear a story, little prince?"  
Zagreus cannot reply, of course, but the curious look on his face tells Achilles all he needs to know.

" Well..." He starts.  
" You see, little Zagreus, once upon a time, there was a beautiful nymph called Thetis," he starts. " So beautiful, in fact, that the Gods fought for her hand... Until they heard of the prophecy surrounding her."  
He stops to check on whether the prince is still listening - and sure enough, the little boy has stood still, waiting for him to keep going.

Achilles puts the spoon close to Zagreus's mouth, and he watches him eat without complaint.  
He smiles.  
"Now, what the prophecy foretold, lad..."

\- 

_“ You are to train the Prince, “ Hades tells him. “ I trust you, son of Peleus. Make him into a man.”_

_Achilles softly nods.  
“ I shan’t let you down, Lord Hades.” _

\- 

Zagreus scrapes his knees during their first training session, and though it was normal, if not expected of boys in Fthia, this one doesn’t take it so well. 

He bandages the boy’s bruised knee gently, but the prince is still crying. Achilles sighs. He lifts his skirts a tad, so he can show a scar on his calf. 

“ Do you see this, lad?” He asks, and Zagreus nods.  
“ I got this scar while fighting. To be injured like so… it means you are doing what needs to be done. So dry your tears, yes, lad? These bruises are marks of honor, not shame.”

Zagreus looks at him with wide eyes, sniffling.  
“ M’kay,” he whispers, and Achilles smiles.

-

A vision ( a memory? ) comes to mind as he trains Zagreus with the spear.

Chiron, all grace and strength, his torso a taut bowstring as he teaches Achilles how to handle the spear. 

Patroclus’s laughing face from when Achilles had fallen face-first in the mud .

Patroclus.

( He’d never seen happier days than the ones in Pelion. He doesn’t think he ever shall again. But at least _he_ is someplace better. )

\- 

He’d stopped having dreams of holding, of being held, of anything before that blasted war and the blood and Patroclus’s broken ribs, and- 

“ Hiiii, mister Achilles!” Dusa greets him, and he snaps out of his thoughts. 

“ Hello, Dusa. How may I help you today?”

“ Well… Well I saw you looking down, and, and I thought you might want to have lunch with me!” She bubbles. Achilles smiles kindly at the little gorgon.

“ I think I’d like that, Dusa. “

“ Oh, let’s go! You’ll never guess what the chef made this time…”

( The dish had onions. He tries not to hold it against Dusa.)

-

He’d lie if he said that the pain had managed to go away, not that anyone is demanding of him to get over it. You don’t just lose the love of your life because of your own terrible mistakes and recover from it.  
( He wonders, sometimes, if Nyx understands him so well because she, too is away from someone she holds dear. )  
But if he’s being honest, Zagreus has improved his life for the better, and though the pain can never go away, it slowly dulls, and he’d lie if he said it wasn’t thanks to the little prince. He wonders, sometime, if he’ll ever able to live up to Chiron’s greatness as a teacher. Though he has enough sins to last three lifetimes weighing on his back, he can still certainly try.

And when Zagreus decides to escape the Underworld, his heart swells, and though part of that swell is definitely pride for the man Zagreus has grown to become, he can’t deny that part of him aches, for he shall miss the young prince. 

“ Hey, Achilles…” Zagreus calls.

“ Yes? What seems to be the matter, lad?” 

“ You… you do know that there is no hard feelings between me and you and anyone else down here, right? That that’s not the reason I’m leaving.”

“ Of course, lad. Do not worry. If anything, you’ve made us all proud. Going against your father’s wishes is no small feat.”

“… Thank you, sir. For everything you’ve taught me.”

He gives the boy a kind smile, and does not mention how Zagreus has done more for him than he could ever know.

-

“ A shade in Elysium was asking for you, sir” Zagreus says, and if Achilles’s heart still beated, it would probably stop again.  
“ Some Patroclus.” 

Oh, it would definitely stop.

\- 

He doesn’t have time to tell Zagreus because all he can think of is Elysium, and how _he’s_ waiting, but what he does know is that Zagreus taught him the strength he’d once lost. In some ways, in ways he might never admit out loud, the prince has helped him more than he has. In some ways, he’s made him into the man the people always believed he was.

\- 

_Patroclus hasn’t seen the man running up to him yet, but he could recognize those footsteps even if he were deaf and blind._

_“ Achilles,” the word stops in his throat, and he’s pulled into a crushing embrace._

_They didn’t cry during the war, but they certainly make up for it now._

**Author's Note:**

> find me on twitter @twin__blades!


End file.
